Fuse Games engineers animation pipeline for Star Wars: Galactic Racer despite small team
Published 5 Nov 2026 · Games Atlas Editorial · Production Practice · Companies: Fuse Games Limited, Speech Graphics, Xsens
Games Atlas summary: Fuse Games Animation Director Andy Miller detailed the Maya-to-Unreal pipeline built for Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Vehicle physics and player input drive a shared Animation Blueprint applied across the full character and vehicle roster. Xsens mocap suits, MetaHuman rigs and Speech Graphics software cut turnaround for a roster of human and alien racers. "The biggest challenges in our animation space were an ambitious scope and a small team." - Andy Miller, Animation Director
How to cite this page
Games Atlas — Games Industry Intelligence (2026). Fuse Games engineers animation pipeline for Star Wars: Galactic Racer despite small team. Published 5 Nov 2026. https://gamesatlas.app/article/fuse-games-engineers-animation-pipeline-for-star-wars-galactic-racer-despite
A shared Animation Blueprint standardizes player feedback across a diverse cast
- Every character and vehicle shares a base Animation Blueprint defining core poses and blendspaces.
- A child Blueprint per character swaps in unique traits, like Sebulba's whiskers or Biddy Blas's dangling legs.
- "With open cockpits, eclectic character roster, and split-second gameplay, our two key considerations when approaching animation for gameplay are prioritizing game feel and authentic characterization." - Andy Miller, Animation Director
Physics engineers take over vehicle crash dynamics from early animated prototypes
- The first podracer prototype used a skeleton-animated rig to fake dual engines pulling the chariot.
- Physics engineers replaced that rig with a dynamic three-body system for the final game.
- Detached parts now inherit real physics on impact, scattering debris dynamically during crashes.
- Hands and feet stay attached via IK, sockets and animation curves as vehicles move up to 700 km/h.
Capture-to-engine tools compress turnaround on a cast of alien racers
- Xsens suits capture performances from development team members playing paddock characters in-house.
- Rekindled Studios extended MetaHuman facial rigs to support alien species beyond standard humanoid faces.
- Speech Graphics converts audio for several thousand spoken lines into facial animation with short turnaround.
- Export tools move finished animation from Maya into Unreal Engine within seconds.
Ambitious scope meets a small team, Miller's stated top challenge
- Miller named ambitious scope and a small team as the production's biggest challenge.
- The studio leaned on a fast build-test-review loop to offset limited headcount.
- Early previs, including ripomatics cut from the studio's earlier Burnout games, let crash systems get validated before full production.
- Only animation ideas that added to the experience survived the iteration process, Miller said.
What this means
- For Publishers & Developers: Shift lean racing-project headcount from vehicle animators toward physics engineers for crash and damage systems.
- For Service Vendors: Pitch non-humanoid facial rig extensions to studios shipping creature-heavy or alien casts with heavy dialogue.
- For Investors & VC: Add rig reuse across roster and in-house capture capability to diligence on small-team studios.